SSL SiX Review - First Year Impressions
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- SSL SiX Review - First Year Impressions
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Currently deciding between this and the big SiX. This video was really helpful. As some of my teachers told me "less is more".
Thanks for the thorough explanation of the SSL six. Very appreciated. Your video felt like talking to a friend and not like watching another sales video. Refreshing. Look forward to seeing future videos.
Awesome! Thank you for that! I think it's a great piece of gear, but at the price point it comes in at, it's really worth giving thoughtful consideration to what role it's going to play and if it's the best use of the capital that's required to get it in house. Like I said though, I'm not selling it anytime soon.
All the best,
Jeff
I thought I’d loved my SSL Six. Then I put the SSL Fusion on its master insert. Amazing. That is the setup. The SSL six is half the recipe.
That does sound like it would be spectacular! Thanks for mentioning that!
Jeff
I just ordered the SSL Six. I plan to get the Fusion in another year. I want to save up for it. I definitely believe this will be a worthy investment.
I’ve watched dozens of videos on the SSL SiX. You have my vote for the easiest teacher to understand. You have a new subscriber. Thank you.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!
Best,
Jeff
Agree about importance of iniitial recording.
This video made me very happy with the SSL Six investment, thank you!
You're welcome! I'm really happy with it as well. It's a great piece of gear, but not for everyone I think. If it suits you, though, it's worth every penny.
Best!
Jeff
Film composer from Copenhagen speaking. Thanks for a great in-depth review. This was really helpful and motivating for me. Keep it up!
Thank you! Will do!
Jeff
Thanks for this review.
In mixing, there are no rules, only things that maybe you should know. Deadmau5 says: "using a SSL style compressor on a dance music kick makes no sense at all" where in the mixing rule book does it say that you can't do that? Again, there are no rules that are set in stone when it comes to mixing.
"If it sounds good it is good"
-Joe Meek
Well said!
@jeffrolka excellent video, I’m considering buying ssl six and you raised lot of interesting points worth to me!
Would you suggest me to buy it given the fact that it would be my first proper outboard gear (I always done everything in the box) and I would like to start exploring the analogue world. Particularly, I’d like to use it on the way in to clean the signal to the interface and to give a final touch on the mix with the g compressor. Unfortunately I don’t have a lunch box nor 500 series stuff, so build something with Nieve preamps and a G comp would be out of budget. Thank you a lot for your advice!
Glad the video was helpful!
Like all things audio - it depends on the kind of music that you're making and the sounds that you like to hear. The SiX is great in that you get good preamps, compression on two channels (plus the bus compressor) and EQ on two channels. All the signal paths are super clean and the routing is impressive and flexible.
All of that is worthless though, if you don't like the way that your instruments sound through it. I think the preamps on this sound great on electric guitar. I think that they're passable on vocals. Electronic instruments (keyboards) through the stereo channels are great.
Not super psyched on acoustic guitars through the pres on this.
I love this as a summing mixer and monitor mixer.
Bottom line: you get a lot of options with this unit, which is great. Whether or not they serve your workflow and how you want things to sound though is something that only you can say. If you can try one out before you buy it, that would be ideal. If not, I would check the return policy from where you're buying from and also consider the resale value if you decide to try it long term.
@@JeffRolka thanks Jeff for your help, let’s say that I play and record heavy music and ssl consoles are on many major records I listen to.
What I like the most is the possibility for someone who never had experience of analogue gear to have the possibility of gaining experience on multiple features ( eq, comp, master comp etc) all in one box with decent preamps. So, a good starting point to expand in the future.
Unfortunately I don’t have the possibility to try one before buying, but I’ve found good deals on the used market (for the most part people who want to upgrade to the big six) so it wouldn’t be a risky deal.
Do you have another channel? Jeff Rolka topic ? Just wondering. Glad your well xx
Amazing info friend thank you much.... *be mindful of lip smacking noises friend 😅
Thank you! Will do!
I'm interested in getting the Six. I am a solo didgeridoo artist and hoped that this might be a step up (and increased portability) from my A&H MixWizard 20s. I already own some outboard inc a nice stereo compressor and hearing the limited use the channel compressors are for bass sources, that I wonder if I'd be better served with eg a mono compressor and mic pre instead eg Cranbourne EC1?
Thanks for having a look at the video! The Cranbourne sounds super interesting - though if you already have a really nice compressor, you could also, if you got the SiX, and got the DB25 cables, use the channel inserts for the compressor and use the bus compressor on the way out. Just trying to think of how you might keep your footprint smaller if this is going to be a traveling rig for you. That being said, the Cranbourne is quite small too, and may even have a smaller overall footprint depending on the stereo compressor you have.
That's the beauty of the SiX, there are so many routing options, it's really quite cool. It's not limitless, however, as I learned recently:
ua-cam.com/video/5b4bsbJJClQ/v-deo.html
It's not out for awhile, but the title really says it all.
Thank you again!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka Thanks so much for the reply. Do you use another EQ on the inserts at all? With the didg I like to reduce the proximity effect to some degree by careful EQ - I may need to find an extra EQ in this case too... I'm finding your channel very hlepful for my music in - keep up the excellent content :)
thanks for review, really trying to decide between keeping the six and investing in a neve 1073 and lunchbox
The SiX does a lot and as such offers a lot of options, but the 1073lb just sounds amazing. It would be nice to have both of the colours, depending on your studio situation and what you do. Maybe just wait a bit and not have to choose!!
Jeff
Well do u... mix tracks through an ssl or just want a mic preamp? Lol kinda different uses
@@gusdee4844 yeah i really just wanted a nice analog pre/summing option for mostly mono sources like bass guitar, moog bass, some percussion. I got rid of the six and got a GAP Premier 73 and am really happy with it, the six is really good but maybe a bit overkill if youre just wanting some analog flavor and preamp options
@@Yonsdaspaceghost damn that's a big change lmao more power to u tho. Im kind of on that analog "hype" tho especially it being ssl so not sure if its what I should get. I was really shopping for a bus compressor and with the bus comp in the Six plus the summing/mixing capabilities, it seems like a no brainer. Just not sure how id set it up with my interface and theres barely any info on these videos lol
@@gusdee4844 yeah thats why i got it for that analog mojo ha. It def does that for sure, i noticed the difference mostly in drums, recording live snare and hihat through it was really fat and in your face sounding, however i realized later i really prefer the neve sound on instruments. SSL has a certain sound to it and slight aggression, the talkback mic was great on drums as you could really smack tf out of them. But I like the smooth fat sound of neve, i'LL later invest in a neve summing box or just more neve like preamps and eqs as I feel thats more my sound. I didn't like my rap vocals via the ssl six as it was kinda wooly sounding, i think that might be great for rock but not when you want a smoother, more silky top end.
Im totally confused how to get it set up no matter how much I read about it lol I wouldn't want to track thru it and am happy with my outboard gear for recording. I just want to sum/mix a session with it plus use the bus compressor. I use an Audient id22 interface.. would I need a larger interface with more inputs/outputs? Even if I cant sum all 6 tracks at once, I feel like the bus comp alone is worth it considering the price of the unit by itself. How would I even set that up with the interface if u know? Thanks
The routing options on this unit are vast, but not limitless. I just found that out sort of the hard way. This isn't out for awhile, but I address a routing summing issue here:
ua-cam.com/video/5b4bsbJJClQ/v-deo.html
As for out of box summing. The Audient has ADAT outputs, so you could get a unit like this:
www.musictech.net/reviews/focusrite-octopre-dynamic-review/
With it connected to your Audient interface, you would have all the outputs on the Audient, as well as eight additional outputs on the Focusrite. You would send all those into the SiX, then bring the Main stereo outputs on the SiX back to two inputs, either on the Audient or the Focusrite to get the back into your DAW.
Without getting a DB25 cable to access the additional inputs on the SiX, you would be limited to six mono inputs, though if you had stereo pairs coming out of your DAW you could send one stereo pair to channels 3/4, one to 5/6, one to EXT 1, and finally one to EXT 2, all of which can sum to the stereo bus pre compressor so you can glue it all together.
I love having the unit, but I don't know if I would get it solely for out of box summing. Since I have it, however, I'm going to be doing it though!
Great question!
Jeff
Great video, very clear! Do you know if the External inputs and the Alt inputs (through the Dsub) can go through the Gbuss compressor at the same time as inputs 1-6?
Thank you! Yes, the Alt-inputs, coming in through the D-sub get added to the stereo bus before the G-bus compressor. Great for out of box summing, if that's what you're driving at!
Thank you for watching! Thanks for your question!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka Thanks a lot! Yes, that is indeed what I was thinking about. Just one more thing that I can't figure out, even by looking at the manual. If I use external effects by using the external inputs and foldback outputs as aux send/returns...do you know if I can use these effects on Alt 1 and 2 inputs at the same time as using them on channels 1-6? If so, I will buy the D-sub cable, but by looking at the desk I'm not sure if I can turn up Stereo Cue 1 and 2 sends for channel 1 and 2, and also do that when Alt 1 and 2 are turned on (because I'm thinking that when I turn on Alt 1 and 2, the Stereo Cue 1 and 2 levels become the main levels for Alt 1 and 2, so I wouldn't have sends on the Alt channels?). Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance if you have time.
You would have got went to SoundCraft XL7 or Ghost instead...or the Allen Heath Mix Wizzard
None of those have the channel compression and bus compression that I wanted for live sound applications! I definitely wanted an Allen and Heath. I love their preamp sound.
How to just hear the main source without monitor source, because i want to use the main source for realtime mixing or mastering my music, just using fader to print my audio, so i know the exact sound come out from Six ssl Thank you.
The main bus, also called the stereo outputs, provide your main, final output from the SiX. The cues don't really figure into it, nor does their mix affect it. I hope that helps!
Jeff
Thanks for the video! I can't find it in the manual, but does anyone know what impedance level the headphone monitoring output can handle?
Great question!!!
Considering a purchase. How to create two separate headphone mixes on the Six? Need talent and console at different levels 99% of the time...
Easily done. You can, in fact, get three fairly easily. Use Cue 1 for one artist, you still have Cue 2 available for another artist, and the headphone jack on the surface of the SiX can reflect either of the Cue sends or the mix going to the stereo bus. It's worth mentioning that the Cues go out the 'foldback' outputs and are not powered. SSL says that the foldback outputs are capable of driving a single pair of headphones, they're not wired that way. You have two mono quarter inch jacks for each foldback, so you'd have to make or buy a cable to plug phones into them without a headphone amp in between.
It's a good piece of gear that I'm glad I have. I feel like if your use case necessitates it, there's nothing like it. That being said, it's pretty niche.
Thanks for watching!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka thank you for your quick response. Think I shall order this week!
so much sbiut you you you